Daft Property - Irish Property News

Confusion as Hogan insists 'property tax' will happen... Environment Minister Phil Hogan insisted last night that a new flat-rate household charge -- a precursor to a property tax -- would come in next year. The minister's statement of intent came following confusion created by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore, both of whom said no formal decision had been made. The household charge will be used to pay for local services and will ultimately be replaced by a full property tax based on the value of the home. The Government will also bring a separate water charge, once houses are metered. But the details of this rollout will also have to be sorted out by the Government. Following the split over Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton's proposals to cut wages for low-paid workers, the Coalition was again forced to deny a clash between Fine Gael and the Labour Party. Despite Mr Hogan clearly signalling a new property tax-style charge would be introduced...

Scramble to stem panic after new bailout gaffe... Alarm after Varadkar claims State will need further loans. THE Government last night scrambled to allay fears that a second bailout is on the cards, following damaging comments by a cabinet minister. Transport Minister Leo Varadkar sparked alarm and confusion when he said the Government may need to get new loans from the European Union and IMF next year. Ahead of an anticipated backlash from investors this morning, Finance Minister Michael Noonan's officials insisted the Coalition's firm plan was still to return to borrowing on the bond markets in 2012. The Department of Finance stressed there was no change in the Government's plans, as Mr Varadkar's comments were reported around the world. Mr Varadkar was also left backpedalling after he was reported as saying: "I think it's very unlikely we'll be able to go back (to borrowing on the bond markets) next year. I think it might take a bit longer......

Repossessions to surge as mortgage crisis deepens... 25,000 families now more than a year behind on their repayments. MORE than 25,000 families in Ireland are in turmoil this weekend, living with the terror of being more than a year behind on their mortgages and past the point where they can ever hope to pay back the money they owe. The shocking finding follows an analysis of figures compiled by the Central Bank of Ireland and released without fanfare during the high profile visit of Queen Elizabeth and on the day that former Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald died. The figures show that more than 35,000 people are now over six months in arrears on mortgages worth more than €7bn. But leading mortgage expert Ciaran Phelan of the Irish Brokers' Association has analysed the figures and says the situation is even worse than that portrayed by the regulatory authority. He says even a "back-of-the-envelope" assessment of the latest statistics indicates that 25,000 of tho...

Distressed property auction by Savills... AROUND 100 distressed investment properties, mainly in the greater Dublin area, are to be auctioned on a single day in September. The move by Savills Ireland to kick-start both the residential and commercial investment markets is expected to generate sales of over €20 million. Ronan O’Driscoll, of Savills Ireland, said most buyers at the September 29th auction were likely to be cash-rich investors happy to put their money into property now that values had fallen sharply. In the past, investors banked on capital appreciation but it was now all about rental return and in many cases buyers could expect yields of 9 to 10 per cent compared to 3.5 per cent on bank deposits. The announcement that Savills will be staging Ireland’s “biggest ever property auction” comes after last month’s successful auction of distressed properties in Dublin by British auctioneer Allsops and its Irish affiliate Space. They sold 80 of the 81 lots in a packed Shelb...

Nama's equity plan 'is doomed by ECB rates'... Hobbs rubbishes scheme to protect homeowners, insisting any progress would be wiped out by a few interest hikes. A proposal by Nama to protect homebuyers from negative equity has been dismissed as an attempt to "manipulate property prices" and will not work in the face of rising interest rates imposed by the ECB, leading economic adviser Eddie Hobbs says. "They're trying to put a floor on the market. You would have to say that it's a positive attempt, but the history of economics is littered with various attempts to manipulate property prices. If interest rates rise, it doesn't matter what kind of floor you try to put on the market, because you'll be overwhelmed by it. "I'm in Germany at the moment and the place is absolutely hopping. The German economy is booming and inflation is rising in Europe. The Central Bank in Frankfurt is going to raise interest rates to protect the Germa...

Number of homeowners in arrears soars to 50,000... THE number of homeowners in arrears on their mortgages has jumped by 5,100 to almost 50,000 in the first three months of the year. The arrears figure represents 6.3pc of the 782,429 residential mortgage accounts, according to the Central Bank. Meanwhile, another 36,600 homeowners, who are not in arrears, have made arrangements with their lender to reduce their repayments. This means that a total of 86,211 homeowners -- 11pc of all mortgage-holders -- were struggling to meet their repayments in March, the Central Bank said. While the trend is worrying, eight out of every nine mortgage holders are still meeting their original repayment commitments. Frank Conway of personal finance website MoneyCoach added that although the growth in the arrears was unfortunate, there was no rapid deterioration in the rise in rate of arrears. "These latest statistics largely include the effects of the introduction of the universal socia...

Barack Obama and the Queen to visit Ireland during its time of despair... The financial rescue package for Ireland has been a national shame – so why are there no barricades on the streets of Dublin? Strange times in Ireland; a British queen and an American president staging back-to-back visits this week and next. But what is everybody talking about? It's the economy, stupid. Yes, the economy is really the only topic on the front pages, on the TV, on the lips of the subdued window-shoppers up and down Dublin's Grafton Street in turbulent May sunshine and showers. The Queen, who is said to love facts and figures, may or may not learn on her visit that Ireland has 14% unemployment, that its economy will grow by only 0.6% this year, that house prices have fallen 12% this year and 40% since the 2007 peak, with the decline accelerating. She may or may not discover that Ireland has suffered the biggest decline in educational standards of any developed nation in the last deca...